An agency headed by a former key handler of Pierre Poilievre is a registered lobbyist in the loud fight over noise in Calgary. Jenni Byrne + Associates filed to the Alberta government on June 24 to be a lobbyist for Penny Lane Entertainment. Penny Lane operates the Cowboys Music Festival tent in west downtown. The public affairs agency’s filing was...
Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled plans Friday to restore the prime minister's residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa through a national design competition and fundraising campaign. The prime minister said the winning design proposal will be announced by Canada Day of next year. Carney said the heritage building is a "symbol of the nation" that has fallen into a...
In a Spark Advocacy survey in May (10th to 14th, 3450 interviews, nationwide online) of this year, we asked the following question about the idea of allowing private donations to fund renovations to 24 Sussex.
A confluence of poor timing, cross-border tensions, and competition with the Calgary Stampede could see fewer guests at the 250th anniversary party at the Lornado residence. Attendance at the U.S. Embassy’s upcoming Fourth of July party may not match the expected significance of this year’s 250th anniversary celebrations, as a figurative perfect storm of factors, including the event’s timing and...
Asked what she believes is the primary threat Canada faces moving forward, the country’s top soldier is pointing to missiles developed with new technology coming from Russia. “The threat to our continent is mostly related to the new missile technologies and the new vehicles of delivery that Russia is developing,” Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan told CTV...
In a Spark Advocacy survey in May (10th to 14th, 3450 interviews, nationwide online) of this year, we asked the following question about the idea of allowing private donations to fund renovations to 24 Sussex.
Provincial Government Performance: Results of our most recent Atlantic Quarterly© survey show that Atlantic Canadians’ satisfaction with each of their respective provincial government’s performance is low. In both PEI and NS, a majority are dissatisfied (55% and 59%, respectively), while in NB and NL there is a more even split between those who are satisfied (NB 35%, NL 28%) and...
To govern is to choose, the old adage runs. The old adage is wrong. More often, to govern is to straddle. Politicians are disinclined to choose by nature, of course: left unsupervised, they will nearly always prefer guns and butter to guns or butter. But many of the most important issues do not lend themselves to binary, either-or choices. The...
Every good political campaign needs a slogan. Mark Carney may have handed one to the team that will be fighting for Alberta to resist the separatist option this October: “Canada: don’t mess it up.” In a wide-ranging news conference on Thursday, Carney was focused on looking back over his achievements of the past year, but the questions from journalists, naturally...
Paraders waved both Canada and Alberta flags high as many in a crowd cheered louder for tossed candy than politicians at the annual parade in the town of Ponoka. Tensions over Alberta's fall referendum on the province's place in Canada spilled over earlier this month, when another town's rodeo pulled the plug on its parade, citing online harassment.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada has no current plans to open embassies in Iran or Venezuela. Anand says Canada relies on Italy to connect with Canadians in Iran but admits using an intermediary isn't the most efficient way of dealing with consular issues. Her comments come after a group called the Iranian Justice Collective said it had heard...
Canada’s worth fighting for. Alberta does better together with the rest of Canada. And the Oct. 19 referendum in the province is a real choice that could bring on years of uncertainty for Alberta’s economy. None of those points, raised by Prime Minister Mark Carney at a press conference on Thursday, are groundbreaking. But together, the three parts are the...
What’s worse: That Donald Trump wants to break off trade with Canada, or that the U.S. president doesn’t want us to trade with anybody else? Never before as a country have we been so outraged into collective retaliation as we have by America’s rejection of us, its closest trading partner. But whatever we may think of America’s political trajectory, the...
Thanks to the Canada Strong Pass, Canadians can enjoy a more affordable summer. Valid from June 19 to Sept. 7, it provides free admission to all national historic sites and parks operated by Parks Canada, free or reduced admission at national and provincial museums and galleries and free and discounted travel with Via Rail.
Nobody could accuse Mark Carney of lacking intellectual suppleness. A week after enthusiastically endorsing the federal government’s involvement in moves to buy and convert up to 2,500 Vancouver condos that developers can’t unload, on Thursday the prime minister downplayed Ottawa’s role in the scheme. Article content At a press conference to mark the end of the parliamentary session, Carney said...
I imagine Mark Carney was something of an autocrat even in the cradle, issuing directives and insulting subordinates from the earliest age. “Yeah, I’m not feeling this WubbaNub. Got any others?” “This is not a helpful suggestion. Go back and rework it to a different nap time.”
Six years ago, Mark Carney set out to discover his own grand unified theory of everything — or, at least, of why houses became so expensive. Then the governor of the Bank of England, Carney thought there could be a way to align government and bank policy which, borrowing a phrase from Sir Isaac Newton, would “protect the economy from...
They are the behemoths that dot the European landscape. Giant fortresses that have stood for centuries. They were built as defensive bastions to withstand invasions and sieges. Over time, the very isolation, impregnability and fearsome scale of these fortresses suggested an obvious – if less noble – secondary use. And names like Peniche Fortress, north of Lisbon, Marseille’s Château d’If...
Inflation has surged to its highest level in years, Statistics Canada announced Monday, and we can rightly blame U.S. President Donald Trump and his war in Iran for the oil-fueled increase.
It is patently unfair that the Carney government has announced plans to bail out condo developers in British Columbia, without even a mention of the struggling venture capitalists in Ontario, the hedge fund managers in Quebec, and the corporate CEOs in Alberta.
Parliament has risen for the summer, and it is yet again a key time for political parties to tend to all-important local political concerns that ultimately drive the successes or failures of Members of Parliament. For Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals—except for flag waving around the World Cup and big hopes that Canada goes on a run on...
To be a successful leader in politics, you need a few things: a vision for the country, a plan to realize it and an ability to articulate why you are the right person to lead the journey. British prime minister Keir Starmer possesses none of these things. That’s why he’s been forced to resign his post. It’s expected he’ll be...
In economics, the concept of “moral hazard” describes a situation where an individual or institution is more likely to take reckless risks because they do not bear the negative consequences of those risks. It is an idea with which Prime Minister Mark Carney is very familiar, having been a vocal critic of the claim that banks were “too big to...
Donald Trump must enjoy what has now become diplomatic protocol for dealing with him on the world stage — namely, flattery and deference. Mark Carney caught on to it early, calling Trump a “transformational president” during his first White House sit-down with him more than a year ago.
British prime ministers have for the past 65 years had their public image satirized in Private Eye magazine, an often-unflattering pastiche that generally finds its way into the mainstream culture. From the outset of his time in No. 10 Downing Street, Keir Starmer — who on Monday announced plans to resign — was portrayed as a dull, indecisive, overly cautious...
Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty was just one seat shy of securing a third majority mandate when he led his party to win the 2011 Ontario election. It wasn’t a great result – the Liberals won 18 fewer seats than they had the previous election – but it was still a win, and Mr. McGuinty’s approval rating was a respectable (for...
British Columbia is Canada’s third-largest province. It has the country’s fourth-largest economy. And right now, it might be the single most overlooked and underappreciated member of Confederation. Alberta’s willingness to indulge a separatist temper tantrum is consuming most of the attention that’s not already dedicated to dealing with Donald Trump, and it has already elicited a number of policy concessions...
On this date in 2013, much of Calgary's downtown was underwater from the greatest flood ever to hit southern Alberta. City hall, with provincial help, worked furiously to make the Calgary Stampede happen. A slimmed-down version opened on schedule. It was a stunning feat of united action by governments and the Stampede, then led by CEO Vern Kimball.
Crackle! Sizzle! Roar! Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas is on fire. "A permit is not a free pass to keep people awake for 11 nights because someone powerful demands it. "Rick, you spoke up for years. You were told to call 311. You were told to wait while people with money, access and powerful friends expected city hall to look the other way.
The Cannabis Council of Canada has announced it is suspending its advocacy operation, apparently because its member companies have given up hope that the federal government is prepared to listen to them. In a letter to Finance Minister François Philippe Champagne that foreshadowed this week's announcement, outgoing council president Paul McCarthy said the country's licensed cannabis producers have lost confidence...
Mark Carney knows how to work a room. Twenty years of top-level international summitry as a finance mandarin, central banker and prime minister have honed that skill. More important: Carney knows how to read a room. In Davos earlier this year, attendees wanted to hear some sort of plan to contain U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating insanity. So the prime...
No prime minister has the luxury of being able to worry about a single problem. But among Mark Carney’s many problems, one looms particularly large: managing Canada’s relationship with the United States and its president. And Carney faces a difficult question on that file: How flattering to Donald Trump can he dare to be? We saw some examples recently of...
Many Canadians fervently hope that the next midterm elections will return the United States to a state of political normalcy. But there is simply too much money, too much fear, and too much potential for political retribution embedded in the system to expect a rapid correction.
A referendum is looming in Alberta, which will reveal this fall how far the province is ready to go toward the independence option. For the rest of Canada, a big question revolves around how much are we willing to do to keep Alberta in the federation. Some new polling by Abacus Data may offer some insights into that question and...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says the situation in Venezuela following two catastrophic earthquakes is "horrific" and Canada will look to expand its humanitarian support for the region. The rare double earthquakes struck northern Venezuela 39 seconds apart on Wednesday, and officials reported Friday the death toll had risen to 920, with more than 3,360 people injured.
Privacy experts warn the Liberal government’s proposal to create a “super regulator” to enforce laws governing social media and privacy legislation risks weakening Canada’s privacy protection regime by reducing the role of the federal privacy commissioner.
The RCMP is paying for a Black Hawk helicopter it can’t use and its border surveillance program has taken a hit after Transport Canada grounded the Mounties’ newest chopper because it appears to be offside with Canadian regulations, the Star has learned. The helicopter, which is registered in the U.S., was only allowed into the country for marketing demonstration tours...
The federal government is on the cusp of signing a sweeping agreement with British Columbia on major projects, which could land as early as next week in parallel with Alberta’s proposal for a West Coast pipeline. But the Prairie province must reach a deal on a major carbon-capture project, called Pathways, at the same time as it submits its pitch...
Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives remain the most popular party at Queen’s Park even though seven out of 10 Ontarians think it’s time for a change in government, a new poll suggests. The Abacus Data survey found Ford’s Tories at 41 per cent support, while the Liberals, who elect a new leader Nov. 21, were at 32 per cent. Marit...
Outgoing Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith ruled out a run for leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party on Thursday, but said he is still considering a bid for municipal office. The Star reported last week that Erskine-Smith, 42, had discussed the possibility of running for Toronto city council with Mayor Olivia Chow. He said the topic came up “in passing” but...
News comes as Ottawa has set the ambitious goal of doubling Canada's electric grid by 2050. The federal government is expected to announce on Friday that it will prioritize infrastructure upgrades that would allow provinces to share excess electricity more cheaply and easily. Energy Minister Tim Hodgson is expected to highlight five power-line projects, or interties, that the federal government...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is meeting with her Turkish counterpart in Ottawa today, ahead of the NATO summit next month in Turkey's capital Ankara. Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan is visiting Toronto and Ottawa after pitching a strategic partnership with Canada. Turkey is Canada's military ally by virtue of its NATO membership and Fidan has echoed the Canadian...
Canada has signed an agreement with Qatar that Ottawa says looks to address evolving security threats and strengthen public safety. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says strong international partnerships are essential to keeping Canadians safe.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is coming to next week's Calgary Stampede, and plans to reiterate that quitting Canada will not be the magic wand separatists think it is. Carney, taking questions from reporters in Ottawa on Thursday, said the fallout from the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union a decade ago should serve as a clear cautionary tale.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump about efforts to protect the Arctic ahead of their attendance at the NATO summit in Turkey in two weeks. Carney said the U.S. president called him Wednesday for a "long discussion" that involved other senior officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Carney said he and Trump...
As an Iranian diaspora group warns Canada could be looking to re-establish relations with Tehran, Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is "at a disadvantage" in countries like Iran where it lacks a diplomatic presence. Commenting today on the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela, the prime minister said that not having diplomatic relations with Venezuela's government makes it hard to respond...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the six byelections to fill current and upcoming vacancies in the House of Commons won't likely be held all at the same time. Carney said in French he has not yet decided when the byelections will take place, but he does have to account for factors like the provincial election in Quebec, scheduled for Oct...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says a proposal to convert unsold condo units in British Columbia into affordable housing is about supporting Canadians, not distressed developers.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says there will be an announcement on Friday about the future of 24 Sussex Drive. No prime minister has lived at the official residence of the prime minister since Stephen Harper in 2015. Carney currently lives at Rideau Cottage on the grounds of Rideau Hall. Carney was asked about what he would like to see happen...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada will work with the United States and Mexico to “modernize” the trilateral trade deal known as CUSMA, but won’t accept a bad deal from U.S. President Donald Trump. “We could sign a bad deal this afternoon. We could have signed a bad deal a year ago. We’re not going to sign a bad deal...
Company to design, build project expected to be chosen by July 2027. Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to announce on Friday a long-awaited plan to restore 24 Sussex Drive that includes a fundraising campaign to come up with as much money as possible to pay for it, CBC News has learned. A senior government source said Carney's plan is...
The shine has gone off Doug Ford a little this year. And his government has some miles on the odometer. While Ford has surpassed the expectations of his critics in the past, time and circumstances may be catching up. Liberal chances will have a lot to do with how Ford comes across over the next couple of years. It’s very...
Record participation in a team-Canada trade mission to Japan has resulted in more than $1 billion in commercial investments signed between Canadian and Japanese companies. On Thursday, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu beamed as he watched executives from more than a dozen companies participate in signing ceremonies. Sidhu said the historic trade mission has delivered “landmark results” resulting in over...
The federal government signed $5.4 billion-worth of procurement contracts identified as “not for public disclosure” last year, the IJF has learned. In an email to the IJF, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) confirmed it was involved in awarding 1,896 contracts identified as “not for public disclosure” in the 2025/2026 fiscal year. This includes contracts awarded directly by PSPC or...
Death tolls are expected to rise this morning in Venezuela after two earthquakes struck near the capital, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.
Whichever route Alberta picks for its proposed oil pipeline to the B.C. coast, the federal government will have to do a swift but thorough consultation with Indigenous Peoples to avoid time-consuming court challenges, all with a looming separation referendum hanging over the process.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals would likely win another majority despite trade tensions with the U.S. and national unity concerns at home, polls suggest. According to The Signal, the Star’s poll aggregator, Carney’s Liberals, who currently have 173 MPs in the 343-member House of Commons, would win between 171 and 213 seats — with median tally of 191 — on...
A senior executive at German submarine builder TKMS says a joint proposal with Norway to supply 12 submarines for Canada would be more compatible with the country than a rival South Korean option, in part because the European vessel construction group’s working language is English. In a recent post on LinkedIn, the executive, Philipp Schön, said Canadians should consider which...
International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu says more relief from Beijing’s tariffs that remain on Canadian canola, peas and seafood will be on the negotiating table when he meets with his Chinese counterpart in the fall. The meeting will likely take place in November in Shenzhen, GD. the site of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC) hosted by China. Earlier...
The federal government and more than 1,000 federally appointed judges are at odds over the best way to settle an ongoing salary dispute, raising concerns in both the legal and political community that the case could end up tarnishing the judiciary's reputation. The government refused last year to grant judges a salary increase of $28,000 to $36,000, as proposed by an independent committee.
Military police failed to transfer almost 70 per cent of sexual offence cases over the past five years to civilian police, despite the government committing to doing so as it worked to pass a permanent change into law. New data shows military police held on to 595 out of 879 of these cases since 2021. "I find that disturbing to...
Defence contractor says their aircraft would create 1,100 maintenance jobs in Canada. One of the leading competitors to sell Canada early warning surveillance aircraft says it was caught off guard by the decision of Prime Minister Mark Carney's government to open contract negotiations with European defence giant Saab. Three companies — two American, one Swedish — were in the running...
Annual event comes just after a key deadline for federal-Alberta pipeline agreement. With the countdown to the Alberta referendum started, Prime Minister Mark Carney's governing caucus will be out in stronger numbers than usual at the Calgary Stampede. Dozens are expected in attendance, after months of lobbying by his few Alberta MPs. "This year, months in advance, I mentioned it...
Most economists, including at the Bank of Canada, were a bit surprised when Statistics Canada reported late last month that the economy contracted slightly over the first three months of the year. The consensus estimate among economists and monetary policymakers was for real GDP growth of roughly 1.5 per cent annualized in the first quarter. When the figures actually showed...
The U.S. struck Iran on Friday to respond to a drone attack on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, a provocation that U.S. President Donald Trump said violated the ceasefire.
A poll worker said two federal officers visited her at a voting location during New York's primaries to confront her about a social media post she'd written criticizing the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis.
A new report by a Trump administration commission suggests replacing the idea of separating church and state with the idea of building bridges between them.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for a drone strike on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, calling it a "foolish violation" of the ceasefire.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada has no current plans to open embassies in Iran or Venezuela. Anand says Canada relies on Italy to connect with Canadians in Iran but admits using an intermediary isn't the most efficient way of dealing with consular issues. Her comments come after a group called the Iranian Justice Collective said it had heard...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says the situation in Venezuela following two catastrophic earthquakes is "horrific" and Canada will look to expand its humanitarian support for the region. The rare double earthquakes struck northern Venezuela 39 seconds apart on Wednesday, and officials reported Friday the death toll had risen to 920, with more than 3,360 people injured.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is meeting with her Turkish counterpart in Ottawa today, ahead of the NATO summit next month in Turkey's capital Ankara. Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Hakan Fidan is visiting Toronto and Ottawa after pitching a strategic partnership with Canada. Turkey is Canada's military ally by virtue of its NATO membership and Fidan has echoed the Canadian...
As an Iranian diaspora group warns Canada could be looking to re-establish relations with Tehran, Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is "at a disadvantage" in countries like Iran where it lacks a diplomatic presence. Commenting today on the deadly earthquakes in Venezuela, the prime minister said that not having diplomatic relations with Venezuela's government makes it hard to respond...
Death tolls are expected to rise this morning in Venezuela after two earthquakes struck near the capital, trapping people beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and setting off powerful aftershocks.
China continues to find creative ways to infiltrate and influence the West. When low-cost Chinese electric vehicles entered Western markets, they were an immediate success and sales soared. Soon after, engineers discovered that Chinese manufacturers could surveil these vehicles (Financial Times 2026). Western engineers also found kill switches in Chinese electric buses that could be used to disrupt transportation (Associated...
Express Entry was never meant to be a Canadian skilled immigration program. It was supposed to be the sorting system layered on top of the existing federal ones.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
The Parti Québécois just released its Livre bleu, a 524-page document detailing its arguments in favor of Quebec’s independence. The separatist party is inviting Quebecers to provide suggestions for a second version, I’d have a lot of recommendations, of course - on all topics - but in this short text, I’ll stick to the parts where I’m specifically criticized by...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own department, the Privy Council Office (PCO), has become the bad boy of freedom of information in Canada.
Secrecy surrounding cabinet documents is so absolute in Canada that critics look to theology and astrophysics for metaphors to describe it. Federal cabinet records in Canada are treated as “sacred artefacts to be shrouded in mystery for decades, hidden in a black hole beyond the contemplation of judges, commissioners, or citizens.”
A more than 100-page manifesto filled with misogynistic and anti-police rhetoric was found in the hours after an Alberta man opened fire in a Montreal neighbourhood. Three people were killed, including an officer, the shooter and a civilian caught in the cross-fire. This isn't the first Canadian shooting attack rooted in misogynistic ideology, it succeeds the 2020 Nova Scotia shooting...
In the fall of 2022, Danish authorities scrambled fighter jets to investigate a strange disturbance in the Baltic Sea. What they found was extraordinary. An enormous geyser had opened up on the water’s surface. It was evidence that something deep below had ruptured with enormous force. Just days earlier, a team of divers had planted explosives along Nord Stream, a...
With the summer now getting started, a series of new polls suggest that Mark Carney’s Liberals are starting the season in a good spot, while Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives can’t seem to get any momentum going. Will the summer months provide a respite to the two parties, or could it prove to be a cruel summer in the polls for either...
Canadian businesses don’t have an innovation problem – they have a growth funding problem. Small- and medium-sized businesses often find themselves in what’s known as the ‘valley of death’ – the crucial time when a business is ready to grow, but can’t access the funding they need to get to the next level.
